BIO LEACHING

Bio leaching:
 Bioleaching is the simple and effective technology

for metal extraction from low grade ores and

mineral concentrate by the use of micro organisms

 “Bioleaching employs the use of naturally

occurring bacteria, harmless to both humans and the

environment, to extract the metals from their ores.

Bioleaching is one of the application of Bio hydrometallurgy. In bio hydrometallurgy

 Make use of microbes (bio)

 Mainly take place in aqueous environment (hydro)

 Deal with metal extraction and treatment of metal containing materials and solutions

(metallurgy)
Microorganisms involved in Bioleaching
Features of organisms involved

 Single celled organisms

 Chemosynthetic metabolism

 Take oxygen from atmosphere

 Mostly requires acidic pH

Bacteria are classified according to temperature;

Mesophiles (30 - 42 °C)

Moderate thermophiles (45 - 50 °C)

Extreme thermophiles (65 - 85 °C)

On the basis of pH microorganisms divided into two types

Acidophil
 In this microorganisms grow at acidic condition, below 7.

 They are present in hot spring

Alkaliphiles
 Grow in alkaline media
 Life cycle of microorganism (bacteria)
 The bacteria life cycle consists of the lag phase, the
log or exponential phase, the stationary phase and the
death phase.

Lag Phase
 Bacteria do not grow during the lag phase.

 In this stage, they secrete primary metabolites to

produce vitamins and amino acids needed for division.
Log or Exponential Phase
 In log or exponential phase, bacteria multiply rapidly, even exponentially.

 Bacteria can double in about 15 minutes.

 In log phase the nutrition source is provided to bacteria

 Binary fission.

Stationary Phase
 During the stationary phase, death rate of microorganisms is equal to growth rate of
microorganisms because nutrition source have been limited.

 In this stage, they secrete secondary metabolites.

 They cannot play role in growth.

Death Phase
 It is also called a decellular phase

 All microorganisms have been death.

 No nutrition source is present.

Factors that Influence Growth

 Temperature, acidity, energy sources and the presence of oxygen, nitrogen, minerals and
water all affect bacterial growth, thus affecting the bacteria life cycle
On the basis of nutrition source, microorganisms divided into two types;

Autotrophs

 They use sunlight

 They take carbon dioxide as carbon source

 They take their N,K,S from inorganic source

Heterotrophs

 They take their diet through organic material

 They take C from glucose

Chemistry of bio leaching :
Mechanism of bioleaching:
The reactions mechanisms are two types,

 Indirect bacterial leaching

 Direct bacterial leaching

Indirect bacterial leaching in this process the microbes are not in direct contact with
minerals, but leaching agents are produced by these microbes which oxidize the ores.

In direct bacterial leaching a physical contact exist between bacteria and ores and oxidation
of minerals takes place though enzymatically catalyzed steps
 Example: (bio leaching of gold)

 Sodium cyanide leaching process converts gold to a soluble cyanide complex

Commercial process of bioleaching

Naturally occurring bioleaching process is very slow. For commercial extraction of metal by
bioleaching the process is optimized by controlling the pH, temperature, humidity, O2 and
CO2 concentrations.

These processes are:

 Heap leaching

 In-situ leaching

 dig and dump leaching

 Agitation Leaching
 Heap Leaching :

 In heap leaching ore is arranged in heap.

The aqueous solution containing
microorganism works on the heap of ore
and produces the leach liquor. The leach
liquor is used for metal recovery
1.Mine the ore

2.Crush the ore (if necessary) and Agglomerate the ore (if necessary)

3.Place the ore on a lined pad

4.Irrigate the ore with the appropriate lixiviant to dissolve the metals (leachate)

5.Collect the leachate in a pond or tank (pregnant or value bearing solution)

6.Process the pregnant solution to recover the metals

7.Recycle the barren solution (with additional lixiviant) back to the heap.
 In situ-leaching:

Leaching reagents that dissolve the desired metals

are pumped into the deposit through injection
wells.
 The leachate is collected in a

central underground wells and

pumped to the surface through

recovery wells for further

processing aboveground
Dig and Dump Leaching:
 Dump leaching is an industrial process to extract

precious metals and copper from ores.

 Dump leaching is similar to heap leaching,

however in the case of dump leaching ore is

taken directly from the mine and stacked on the

leach pad without crushing.

 Used for Low grade ores.

Advantages of bioleaching:

 Bioleaching is simpler, cheaper to operate and maintain.

 The process is more environmentally friendly than traditional extraction methods.

 Bioleaching if used for all processing could drastically reduce the amount of

greenhouse gases in our atmosphere.

 Bioleaching can be used extract metals from ores that are too poor for other

technologies
Disadvantages:

 The bacterial leaching process is very slow.

 That the heat created from the dissolving process can kill the bacteria.

 Toxic chemicals are sometimes produced in the process.

 Unlike other methods, once started, bioleaching cannot be quickly stopped.